Balto: Valkar Part II
Highly suggested to read the prequel "Balto: Valkar"
by Aljan Darkmoon
Stories in this story: "A Wolf's Rose" by Aljan Darkmoon
Fanfic on Balto Source
"My Love, My Heart, My Soul" by Aljan Darkmoon
Fanfic on Balto Source
Story cover "Balto: Valkar II" available under Fan Images on Balto Source
Somewhere in the east, within the giant mountain range known as the Devil's Peaks, Fren sat in a cavern, reading the tome he had taken from the Elani Valkar he had murdered. As his brown eyes reflected the flames of the nearby fire, taking in every description and every detail, a voice spoke.
You are foolish to think this tome can accomplish what you seek!
Fren merely kept reading. The voice tried again.
Separating a dual personality has never been done, Fren! At least never alone. Your obsession to cleanse yourself of me could mean the death of us!
"It is your constant bickering that makes me want to be rid of you!" snapped Fren at last. "This body is mine and after today, it shall be only mine."
The voice seemed to back off, stunned. Then it seemed to get some composure. You know full well the body you control was mine once. You used to be where I am now.
Fren laughed. "If you can't control your own body, there's no use for you to keep it. Besides, once the transition is complete and I am free of you, you'll have your own body."
You don't know the consequences! snapped the voice.
"Silence!" roared Fren, getting to his feet, his eyes glowing from the amount of emotion and power he suddenly unleashed. Halos of bright light: purple, pink, red, blue, black, and white flashed around the cavern; encircling the lone man.
The voice became afraid. You are mad. You couldn't have!
Fren extended his hand; the halos warped into a single beam of changing light, purple once then blue the next until Fren could've sworn he had seen all the colors known in existence. The beam wrapped itself around Fren's arm.
You only had the tome for three days! You couldn't have learned the right--
"You underestimate me, my dual personality," growled Fren , still holding his arm aloft, his voice raising to a victorious roar. "Now I can be free of you forever!"
Fren plunged his hand into his chest and the world was filled with light and screaming. Not just the voice's but his own as well. In a flash the world he had ever known disappeared, leaving him feeling his own agony.
Chapter One
Morning found Tais staring from where he sat under the shadow of an ancient oak. He had been up since the sunrise, watching the brilliant orb climb into the sky. Clouds have begun to dot the once ever clear sky, making it cooler than before.
Claire lay no less than five paces from him, sleeping peacefullly, his green-grey cloak wrapped around her, hiding her nakedness . They had stayed there that night loving each other until both fell asleep in each other's arms. Tais had changed from his white sparring shirt to his dark tunic after a nice refreshing bath in the shallow river that weaved twenty feet from where he sat.
Tais loved the morning, in his view, it was a feeling of rebirth; another day to do what you didn't do the day before. He ran his hand through the dew covered grass then remembered it was likely Claire was as well. He crawled over to where she lay.
As he thought, dew had covered her as well, though not as much. Her body heat, he assumed, rid her most of the wet stuff. He brushed off a few droplets that were in her dark hair, causing her to stir.
"Tais..." she mumbled, her dark eyes beginning to open.
"Hush," he replied, pulling her close to him, her head resting in his lap. "The morning is still early. You can rest."
Claire touched his hand resting on her left cheek, pressing it against her flesh. "You should as well, love."
Tais was about to reply when he heard the sound of horses, two of them. Though they were in a forest known to them, many dangers lurked in the depth of the forest. Bandits and road robbers were known to take refuge here though the forest was well known and infamous for one of the locations of the Valkar Order. The valkar had, for many year, attempted to clear the forest of bandits and raiders but they always returned.
Tais stood and grasped the hilt of his sword which hung off a branch at shoulder height and drew the blade. Claire dropped Tais cloak and summoned her robes, which were at the base of the oak, to her body. Once flesh was covered, she summoned her own sword, which hung next to Tais's, to her hand. All of this was done within seconds time.
The hoofbeats were close enough for Tais to begin to look in the edges of the clearing for the person approaching.
"Tais," Claire said, pointing eastward.
Tais turned to see, indeed, a horse-like figure though the being himself wouldn't call himself a horse; nor would his female counterpart. "Jan! Well met!"
Jan, a strongly built unicorn, a sable brown all over save for a white mask on his face, two socks on the hind legs, and white highlights in his whip-like tail. His mane stood on end, all of his hooves were two seperate toes, and his tail was like a whip the traditional traits of a unicorn.
The mighty unicorn bowed his head in greeting, though Tais noted it was done almost in a rush, as if Jan either had other things to do or he was exhausted. "Well met Tais," he breathed, making Tais conclude it was the latter. "Urgent news from the Order!"
"Tell us after you have drank from the river, Jan." said Claire, guiding Jan to the water. "You seem to have ran a long way."
"Yes, I have," the unicorn said reluctantly. He nodded at his young female counterpart, a grey dappled with white spots unicorn that was almost the size of Jan. Tais had never seen her before. But Claire recongized her.
"Raihenza! Well met!"
The grey bowed in greeting. "Famous One," Raihenza replied, using Claire's ancient meaning. "Many days have passed since we've last met. It is unfortunate the day we meet again is one of mourning"
"Mourning?! What news from the Counsel?" asked Tais as Jan drank deeply from the river. The brown unicorn looked straight into his eye.
"Elani Valkar Karis is dead."
Claire eyes widened with horror and disbelief. When Claire was twelve just an apprentice at the time, not even a
valkar yet Elani Karis had been her teacher. He taught her not just the
ways and teaching and the arts of the valkar but also the lessons
essiential for life. For Claire, he became her second father, and she
was proud to have known him as such.
"He can't be." she cried. "I would've felt his death."
"Many people would've felt him die, Claire," replied Jan, "He made many attatchments."
"But I was like a daughter to him, I was his first apprentice!"
Jan snorted softly, a sign of growing irritation. "Claire, there were elani and valkar in the area where Elani Karis was. You should know better then everyone else here: we feel life and death." He left unsaid the countless lives Claire had taken when she was a valkar.
"The fact is," Jan continued, as Claire looked away and sighed. "Karis death was hidden, blocked I should say. I am skilled in the art of the valkar and a little of the elani, and not even the strength of an elani can block a person's death. Except--"
"The Dark arts." finished Tais.
Jan nodded, causing his forelock to fall into his left eye. He tossed his head, whickering, "Damn forelock."
Tais whirled to face Claire and saw she had already came to the same conclusion.
"The Draikar."
Chapter Two
Nome, Alaska Outskirts of town
Luna was dead. Dead.
The horrible fact kept hitting him like waves of arrows, missing his vital organs and only hitting the organs that fed agony and grief.
Steele lay at the base of the grave where his love lay.
Three days he had lain there, waiting. Waiting for the day that would never come: the day when his love rose from the grave to run with him forever across the Wolf's Path, the milky cluster of stars humans called the Milky Way.
Passed down from the ancestors of dogs, the wolves, it is believed when you die on this world, you leave only your body for you do not need it anymore. You run into the sky--high and higher, until at last your paws touch the milky path called the Wolf's Path, where you will run side by side with those you love into the beyond.
Luna...
She had died the same way Tek had.
She had been attacked bitten by a diseased dog. Luna lost her left eye. The dog lost its life.
And Steele felt the world he had ever known plunge into a dark abyss.
Knowing what would happen if she remained near humans, Steele took her to the forest bordering the town to a cave that once housed one of Balto's children and his family. The cave had been deserted for two months, according to the old scents.
It a week for the disease to begin its deadly work on Luna. Oddly though, she was not driven mad or forced into a deadly state that posed a danger to herself and Steele. The disease, Steele soon realized, was eating away not on her sanity but her inner body. She was dying from the inside.
-A Wolf's Tears and A Wolf's Love-
We've roamed the wild country
My beautiful Luna
Side by side we've hunted
Aurora dancing on northern skies
1717 visits
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